Sports
Hockey

Wild shut out sluggish Blues, lead series 2-1

Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville celebrates his goal during the second period in Game 3 of the first round of the 2015 NHL playoffs against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center on April 20, 2015. (Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports)

Topics

In the race to four wins, the Minnesota Wild are starting to skate away from the St. Louis Blues.

Literally.

The Wild made the Blues look like they were slogging through sand Monday in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series, skating circles around them in a 3-0 win.

The dominant victory gave Minnesota a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 on Wednesday in Minnesota.

“I don’t know if I would use the word dominant, it was a good game,” said Wild head coach Mike Yeo. “We knew we were going to have to be on top of things and we were ready to start the right way. We talked about being ready for whatever follows. I thought our guys did a good job of staying with it, not getting frustrated, and obviously, that first goal was huge.”

St. Louis simply failed to keep up with the Wild and were chasing from the onset. Had it not been for the play of rookie goaltender Jake Allen, the score would not have been as flattering.

Minnesota outshot St. Louis 24-17 in the contest limiting the Blues to four shots in the first period and six in the second.

“We turned the puck over in the neutral zone, fed their transition,” said Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock. “We had a good start then started turning the pucks over and they were on us fast. A lot of it was what we did with the puck between the blue lines. That fed the engine.”

The Blues were able to clog things up in the first period, taking some of the life out of a fired-up building. The listless first period was probably to the Blues’ liking, but they were overrun in the second as Jason Pominville and Zach Parise scored to give Minnesota a two-goal lead.

“We were turning pucks over, couldn’t get it out of our end and they get a couple of goals,” said Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester. “That was a tough one, but I think we got what we deserved. We didn’t play good and we can’t be doing that this time of year.”

The Blues were fortunate Minnesota’s hands had trouble catching up to their feet and that Allen was sharp early in the second.

At the other end, Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk had a relatively easy night, earning his first career post-season shutout as St. Louis was unable to get in on the forecheck and create offence.

“It was just speed, just relentless speed,” Dubnyk said. “As soon as the other team touches the puck we were right there supporting each other every where. Everybody reads well off each other and forced turnovers. We’ve been doing it all year. I haven’t seen one team when we’re playing like that, not turn the puck over. Our game is pure speed and we have to keep playing that way.”

Pominville opened the scoring 14 minutes into the second period, tapping the puck into an open net following a scramble in front. The play began with Mikael Granlund blowing past Vladimir Tarasenko along the boards then cutting into the slot.

Just over two minutes later, Parise added a second, finishing the puck out of Bouwmeester’s feet and snapping a shot past Allen.

Down two goals going into the third period, the Blues tried to mount a comeback, but were unable to create many chances. They weren’t even able to earn a power play in the contest.

Nino Niederreiter scored into an empty net with two minutes left to seal the victory.

“We were a lot better with the puck in the offensive zone, we were holding on to it a bit longer and making some more plays,” Parise said. “We were better off the rush attacking the middle of the ice. Teams look fast when they gain the zone with some pressure and we did a good job of doing that.”

The St. Louis Blues are going to have to find an answer for the Minnesota Wild speed or they’ll be quickly knocked out of the playoffs.

St. Louis was overrun by Minnesota 3-0, in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal loss on Monday. They’ll try to regroup for Game 4 on Wednesday.

“The ability to stick with it on the road is so much harder when a home team is feeding off of their fans and their energy,” said Blues defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk. “Everything’s bearing down on you, and it’s that moment that you’re ready to crack and kind of give in and maybe play out of your fundamentals and your systems. That’s when you need to bear down, remember what works and keep it simple.

“Goals are going to be scored by both sides. We know they’re going to have leads from time to time. We have to stick with what we have, and I think that’s what we’ve gotten away from in the past. We’ve played our game early and for half a game, and then because we didn’t get a goal early or weren’t leading the game, we seemed to stray away from what works. So we just have to make sure we stay with that.”

The Blues managed just 17 shot on Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, few which actually threatened to get past him. Instead, they spent most of the contest chasing the Wild after continually turning the puck over.

“It’s not smart, you’re getting checked hard, so you have to make the decision on whether you’re going to make the next play or find the ice behind them,” said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. “We didn’t find the ice behind them near enough until the third period, and they’re sitting on it a little bit. They did a good job. They checked really hard; this is similar to what they did in Game 1. They checked us really hard and they got us to crack.”